Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Once again, we're snowed in. Seriously snowed in. The highways are closed, the public transportation system is shut down, and no one has even bothered to start shoveling. It's serious. Although I'll be hurting a little bit if work is cancelled again tomorrow, I've had too many (unpaid) snow days.

I searched high and low on the internet for a recipe like this, and I couldn't find any. I wanted a basic coffee cake, but with berries, a cream cheese layer, and a crunchy streusel-y topping. Why doesn't this exist besides in my mind?

The good news is that my ideal recipe translated perfectly into reality. This is a hell of a coffee cake. The base cake is light and fluffy, the blueberries fit right in between the cake and the creamy layer of cheese, and the streusel topping is thin and crunchy.

Cream cheese and blueberry coffee cake

Cake base and streusel layer adapted from the Joy of Cooking 1975 edition

For the cake base:

1 1/2 c rice flour mix

1/4 t salt

1/4 t xanthan gum

2 t baking powder

1/4 c butter, softened

1/4 c sugar

1 egg

2/3 c milk

1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. In a small bowl, blend together the flour mix, salt, xanthan gum, and baking powder, then set aside. Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg, followed by the milk. Add the vanilla, then stir in the flour mixture. Blend well, then spread into a 8x8 pan or an 8" pie/tart pan.